Microsoft lays off 1% of India staff

Microsoft has laid off 1 per cent of its India workforce on May 5 as part of the global software maker’s second wave of layoffs. Microsoft India has sent notices to its employees in Bangalore and Hyderabad that it would be eliminating their jobs, informed sources said.

It is not clear which groups of the Indian operations have been affected by the cuts which are learnt to have been carried out across diverse functions. However, a company source said that a sizeable number of Microsoft’s sales and support personnel in Hyderabad and a few in Bangalore were among those affected. The Response Windows team has also been dismantled completely, the source claimed.

The company’s official spokesperson was unavailable for comment on the developments.

The job cuts are part of Microsoft’s global initiative announced in January that it would reduce 5,000 jobs worldwide by June 2010. At that point of time, the company had laid off 1,350-1,400 people largely in the US.

In the second round of layoffs effected on May 5, another 3,000 jobs were eliminated.

With the second wave of layoff notifications, Microsoft has cut 4,500 jobs and is close to its 5,000 layoff target.

On whether more layoffs would be announced in the India operations, which have over 5,500 people on its rolls, sources said that such a possibility could arise under a new round of job cuts, though no hint or official announcement to the effect has come from CEO Steve Ballmer.

While announcing the second round of job cuts, Ballmer had said in a memo last week that the company would closely monitor the impact of the economic slowdown and take necessary action on its cost structure, including taking a decision on undertaking additional job eliminations “as required”.

The company is known to be going ahead with plans to hire 2,000-3,000 workers worldwide this year in some of its growing areas of focus, including online services business and the enterprise server group.